Best rookie surprises/disappointments at training camp & preseason??

[ItsTheBGB]

How is Perhonen with the Oil?

He stayed in Finland, I think his season started as did Klefbom's. They're both not in camp.

 

[Brodeur]

Gardiner for the Leafs was amazing last night. Still can't believe Anaheim traded him for Beauchemin. What were they thinking??

Ducks added a wealth of similarly aged D since the 2008 Draft. Notably acquiring Sbisa and having Fowler fall into their laps in 2010. Fellow 2008 pick and Wisconsin teammate Justin Schultz had leapfrogged Gardiner according to many observers. 2009 pick Sami Vatanen looks pretty good as well.

The Leafs took an extra year of Lupul's contract. Might seem like a trivial matter for Toronto, but they can take advantage of a situation like that. Whereas Anaheim probably needed the financial flexibility after this season. Can't argue the move from a Toronto standpoint. Burke can take advantage that the Leafs have deeper pockets (ie, the Lombardi/Franson trade).

But these are the sort of things you'll have in a cap environment. We see this sort of trade in the NBA often, where a team will fork over a first rounder/prospect in order to take on a contract which expires more quickly.

To the Ducks, they felt like losing Gardiner wouldn't put a huge dent in their farm system. Freeing up Lupul's 4.25 milllion in 2012-13 could add to the pool towards re-signing Getzlaf/Perry who'll be entering their walk years. Or they could use it towards finding a forward who fits in better than Lupul would have.

 

[McDNicks17]

Oilers:

Impress:

Nugent-Hopkins
Martindale
Bunz
Marincin
Pitlick
Lander
Gernat
Tyrvainen

Un-impressive:

Rajala
Teubert (In the one game at least)
Rieder
Davidson
Blain

I can't say I agree with Rieder.

He was fairly good, not amazing.

I don't think it's fair to expect more from a smallish 4th round pick.

 

[Vipers31]

Plenty of Anaheim fans were asking that very question.

Yeah, I remember how upset I was after I heard of the trade. Not sure how I feel about it now, but the reasoning of the trade - for those other fans that are a little less familiar with the situation in Anaheim - has almost perfectly been described in Brodeur's post:

Ducks added a wealth of similarly aged D since the 2008 Draft. Notably acquiring Sbisa and having Fowler fall into their laps in 2010. Fellow 2008 pick and Wisconsin teammate Justin Schultz had leapfrogged Gardiner according to many observers. 2009 pick Sami Vatanen looks pretty good as well.

The Leafs took an extra year of Lupul's contract. Might seem like a trivial matter for Toronto, but they can take advantage of a situation like that. Whereas Anaheim probably needed the financial flexibility after this season. (...)

To the Ducks, they felt like losing Gardiner wouldn't put a huge dent in their farm system. Freeing up Lupul's 4.25 milllion in 2012-13 could add to the pool towards re-signing Getzlaf/Perry who'll be entering their walk years. Or they could use it towards finding a forward who fits in better than Lupul would have.

Very well put.

 

[STL fan in MN]

This is all still rather early as the preseason games are just now starting but so far, here are some thoughts on the Blues rookies/prospects.

Positives:

Ty Rattie - has held his own very well, very skilled, finished tied for 2nd in scoring in Traverse City prospect tourney. He's put on 10-15 lbs of muscle since being drafted but still needs to add much more as he gets knocked off the puck fairly easily but he'll have probably 2 years to bulk up.

Phil McRae - very impressive. Not going to be a superstar impressive but he's simply shown that he made a big jump from a year ago and looks to be a safe bet to be a 2nd or 3rd line NHLer for many years. Will probably spend most of this season in AHL Peoria though. Led Traverse tourney in scoring.

Jay Barriball - has a motor that won't stop and better offensive skills than I expected. He's often forgotten about by Blues fans but he might just become something after some time in the AHL.

Evgeny Grachev - generally solid. Have heard mixed reports on his skating. Scored a goal tonight...actually, make it 2 as he just scored the empty netter. Haven't gotten a great read on him yet though.

Negatives:

Brett Ponich - has looked as slow as molasses and gets beat consistently. He's coming off of a knee injury so I'm hoping he's just rusty and he'll be ok once he shakes off the rust/builds up the knee but if not...ouch.

Others really haven't done much to make much of a good or bad impression. Joel Edmundson and Brock Beukeboom are injured which is too bad. I was hoping to see how both would've fared.

 

[HanSolo]

Ducks added a wealth of similarly aged D since the 2008 Draft. Notably acquiring Sbisa and having Fowler fall into their laps in 2010. Fellow 2008 pick and Wisconsin teammate Justin Schultz had leapfrogged Gardiner according to many observers. 2009 pick Sami Vatanen looks pretty good as well.

The Leafs took an extra year of Lupul's contract. Might seem like a trivial matter for Toronto, but they can take advantage of a situation like that. Whereas Anaheim probably needed the financial flexibility after this season. Can't argue the move from a Toronto standpoint. Burke can take advantage that the Leafs have deeper pockets (ie, the Lombardi/Franson trade).

But these are the sort of things you'll have in a cap environment. We see this sort of trade in the NBA often, where a team will fork over a first rounder/prospect in order to take on a contract which expires more quickly.

To the Ducks, they felt like losing Gardiner wouldn't put a huge dent in their farm system. Freeing up Lupul's 4.25 milllion in 2012-13 could add to the pool towards re-signing Getzlaf/Perry who'll be entering their walk years. Or they could use it towards finding a forward who fits in better than Lupul would have.

Noo...this is gonna bite us in the rear. Hard. Schultz is not going to be on the same level as Gardiner.

 

[HanSolo]

As for the Ducks, Peter Holland is looking very good and I'd say that he makes the team. He played 20 minutes in todays game. Palmieri looked great. Etem looks good but not quite there. And after DSP amazed everyone he's been really underwhelming lately.

 

[Caged Great]

For the Flames, just from the bit I've seen.

Good

Greg Nemisz - He's been taking skating lessons and it's paying off. He's starting to look like a possible 2nd/3rd liner now instead of maybe 4th liner. Probably the best young player in Calgary's game last night

Sven Baertschi - Baer will be a good one for the Flames in a year or two. Probably the Flames best/2nd best forward pick since the 80's (Seriously, the Flames suck at drafting forwards). He will be a top line forward someday.

James Martin - Although not signed, he looks like he'll be an NHL defenseman. Not right away though, could use a bit of polish.

Ryan Howse - Very good hand eye coordination in the game last night. Still a work in progress though.

Average

Lance Bouma - He's your prototypical 4th liner.

Meh/Bad

TJ Brodie - Needs to cut down on the mental errors. Might not be a bad idea to think about converting him to a forward because he's very good in the offensive end, just lost at times in his own end.

Matt Stajan - I have to put this in because he blows.

 

[Ola]

Yemelin and Gallagher for Montreal. In the 1st scrimmage, Yemelin layed 4-5 big hits with a really good defensive coverage. Today, he calmed down a little bit but he displayed very good offensive skills.

Somehow I've heard that story before...

...Now lets just await news of Montreal sending Yemelin to the AHL for a couple of years so that he can pay his dues in NA and show that he earns a spot. He bolts. And then we will see him in the KHL wondering why that kid aint in the NHL...

 

[Fire Sweeney]

From the Montreal-Dallas game last night:

MTL Positives
Brock Trotter
Yanick Weber

MTL negatives
Alexei Yemelin
Jarred Tinordi

DAL positives
Tomas Vincour
Philip Larsen

DAL negatives
Brenden Dillon

 

[Bank]

I'm interest in Magnus Hellberg's and Adam larsson's camps? Are they doing good so far?

How is Hellberg compared with all the other goalie prospects, wich are great, in Nashville?

Hellberg is stuck behind Frederik Andersen(Carolina prospect) in Frölunda. Andersen has put up good numbers(0.67GAA, 97,3%) up in the first three games

 

[Number 57]

Yemelin was absolutely amazing last night. Was all over the place. You can see he needs to adjust but it's pretty clear he has NHL-skills. I mean, how many guys have his agressiveness and hitting ability + can skate so smooth and make those kind of outlet passes?

He's like a bigger Niklas Kronwall.

 

[vippe]

From the Montreal-Dallas game last night:

MTL Positives
Brock Trotter
Yanick Weber

MTL negatives
Alexei Yemelin
Jarred Tinordi

DAL positives
Tomas Vincour
Philip Larsen

DAL negatives
Brenden Dillon

Yemelin was absolutely amazing last night. Was all over the place. You can see he needs to adjust but it's pretty clear he has NHL-skills. I mean, how many guys have his agressiveness and hitting ability + can skate so smooth and make those kind of outlet passes?

He's like a bigger Niklas Kronwall.

So which is it?

 

[Number 57]

So which is it?

The fact he has Brock Trotter in his postivies will tell you which is it.

Trotter looked fast (for once) but that was about it. He needs too much space to make plays, isn't strong enough on the puck and has no idea what to do in the defensive end.

 

[coachwithoutahead]

Maksim Mayorov was pretty obviously the best forward last night in Columbus vs. Winnipeg. He outperformed guys like Umberger, Vermette, Prospal, Kane and Wheeler consistently over the course of the game(not to say those guys played poorly). He came away with a goal and an assist, but I think I was most impressed with his compete level and short area burst. There are few players I've seen that can move 10 feet laterally as quickly as he did last night, and even fewer that can do it at 6'2, 210. On top of that, he showed great hands and a willingness to hit. It might just be one game, but for that game he looked much closer to his lofty 2007 #8 ISS draft ranking than his AHL stats would indicate.

David Savard played very poised. He played opposite Wisniewski on the PP and didn't look at all out of place. Boone Jenner also played exceptionally well. With his combo of compete level, size, skill, speed and attitude, it's hard to believe he made it out of the top-20.

 

[Bgav]

hodgson looks 100times better this year then he did last year

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Baertschi is scary good, NHL ready talent/skill wise, I think they will let him a year in juniors to build up and get stronger but man... what a player flames got

 

[CupofOil]

RNH was fairly awesome last night, he clearly looked NHL ready based on that game. His defensive game is incredibly underrated.

Hartikainen is the most underrated Oiler prospect and one of the more underrated around the league, i'm starting to think that he MIGHT have 2nd line power forward potential. He's a real gem.

Lander looks very good, he will certainly push for a spot on the opening night roster.

I guess Petry is still considered a rookie, he has looked very good so far outside of a few defensive hiccups. He looks ready to take on a bigger role on the Oilers defense.

 

[TheBradyBunch]

I didn't notice Filatov at all last night aside from the first assist. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

The two most impressive fwds for me were Kadri and Filatov.

 

[hototogisu]

From the Montreal-Dallas game last night:

MTL Positives
Brock Trotter
Yanick Weber

MTL negatives
Alexei Yemelin
Jarred Tinordi

DAL positives
Tomas Vincour
Philip Larsen

DAL negatives
Brenden Dillon

Pretty sure you mixed these two up. Trotter did nothing except ignore his linemates, overhandle the puck, and turn it over. Yemelin has some adjusting to do but he acquitted himself very well.

At least you got Weber and Tinordi in the right place.

 

[GM17*]

For the Wild:

Positives
Phillips' skating. If you didn't know that he was greatly knocked for his skating, you probably wouldn't even notice it.
Scandella is playing like a man possessed at training camp.
Gillies has already been largely penciled in as making the team, but he's still proving that he really deserved it.
Bulmer has been everything he was advertised to be. He's really taking after Clutterbuck, although he still has penalty trouble.

Negatives
Wellman hasn't shown anything to say he can make that jump to NHL play.
No one in the cluster of potential 7th defensemen have taken a step above anyone else. There's still hope that someone will jump out and put pressure on the bottom two pairings for ice time, but it looks like we might be signing Hendry off the tryout for that depth spot.
McMillan has been largely invisible...to the point where I just had to find proof online that he was at training camp before I posted this.

His role on SNB doesn't require him to be fast. He's a smooth methodical skater who makes the long pass to setup the offensive and is apt positionally (lessening the requirement for vomit inducing skating speed). People see this and assume he's slow. Same was said for Tavares (whose skating wasn't great but not even close to as bad as people made it out to be)

 

[Jesus Christ Horburn]

Patrice Cormier: where you at?

On a positive, Scheifele has been unbelievable. Gregoire, Levko Koper and Shayne Wiebe have also looked good.

 

[Szechwan]

Glad to see Scheifele doing well. Has the organization hinted in either direction about his chances of sticking?

For the Canucks:

Tanev(1g) looked excellent last night. He's added about 10lbs over the summer and clearly worked on his acceleration. Had a SHG last night and rung one off the post later on.

Shroeder(1g,1a) looked like a completely different player than last year. AV summed it up best when he said that last year he didn't even notice Jordan, where as this year he's everywhere. He was even gushing about his defensive game- a rare accomplishment for a young player under AV. He scored a on a rocket of a one timer when sent in on a 2-1 to tie the game up.

Jensen(1g,1a) also had a strong showing. Could use some bulking up, but what 2011 prospect couldn't? He made nice play to chip the puck out of the zone send Pinizotto and Shroeder in on a 2-1, resulting a JS's goal. Scored on a sharp angle shot later in the game that turned out to be the GWG.

Hodgson also looked excellent last night. Unfortunately the coaching staff sent him to CGY with the scrap team to play on the 1st line with offensive superstars Oreskovich and Duco. Was easily the best player on the Canucks and was dangerous every time he was on the ice. Has a very good chance to make the team as 2nd line C until Kesler returns. Wasn't rewarded on the scoreboard, but he's definitely a player to watch this year.


The Canucks should be very pleased with the way their top rookies have looked thus far.

 

[coachwithoutahead]

Maksim Mayorov was pretty obviously the best forward last night in Columbus vs. Winnipeg. He outperformed guys like Umberger, Vermette, Prospal, Kane and Wheeler consistently over the course of the game(not to say those guys played poorly). He came away with a goal and an assist, but I think I was most impressed with his compete level and short area burst. There are few players I've seen that can move 10 feet laterally as quickly as he did last night, and even fewer that can do it at 6'2, 210. On top of that, he showed great hands and a willingness to hit. It might just be one game, but for that game he looked much closer to his lofty 2007 #8 ISS draft ranking than his AHL stats would indicate.

David Savard played very poised. He played opposite Wisniewski on the PP and didn't look at all out of place. Boone Jenner also played exceptionally well. With his combo of compete level, size, skill, speed and attitude, it's hard to believe he made it out of the top-20.

Mayorov with a SH goal and a crafty assist tonight vs. Washington. Savard also finished with a goal and an assist.

 

[Kershaw]

McIlrath and Larsson both played very well.